Let Us Reason Together

Harvest Home is a Christian holiday, and the pentacle a Christian (as well as pre-Christian) symbol.

Pastor’s Epistle—September, A.D. 2017 A

It came up suddenly, as it always does. Each year I wonder if the transition won’t be gradual, an alteration by degrees that I might not even notice until it’s done. But it never quite works that way. It comes abruptly, like the first snow. One night, it’s a warm summer evening; the next, you can feel the unmistakable edge of autumn dancing upon the breeze. There’s a crispness, a bite, that wasn’t there yesterday. And just like that, fall is on its way.

September is a month of new beginnings, and of excitement just over the horizon. Holyrood, Harvest Home, and Mikkelmas (St Michael and All Angels) make this a time of joyful celebration and wonder, and we shall do our best to give each of these holidays its due. But more than this, September is a time of reunions and fresh starts, as we gather, refreshed from our summer wanderings, to teach and to learn and to grow.

As our children and grandchildren board the big yellow busses back to school, so the academic year begins anew at St Peter’s as well. Sunday School kicks off with Rally Sunday on September 10th, and as has been the case in recent years, our family orientation meeting for Confirmation will be on that date as well, at 11:00 a.m. Here we will go over expectations, assignments, and the schedule for the year, so we ask that all Confirmands and their families who are able to attend do so. Regular Confirmation class begins the following week on September 17th.

Adult Education will be handled a little differently this year. Pub Theology will meet less regularly, and be announced monthly, as we explore new venues: several members have suggested meeting occasionally at Disgruntled Brewing in Perham, which already hosts Bible studies. As for Sunday Adult Formation, I would like to incorporate what a colleague of mine calls “Reading Challenges”—reading a book of the Bible at home, then gathering to discuss it in depth at St Peter’s. Our first Reading Challenge will be the Gospel According to St Mark, the shortest of the four Gospel accounts, which we will discuss on October 8th. We’ll cover its dating, authorship, structure, and message. Even if we haven’t all read it, I trust it will make for some interesting discussion.

I would also like to take this opportunity to invite the entire congregation to join us for Confirmation class on the first and third Sundays of each month. Our focus will still be on our Confirmands and their families, of course, but I firmly believe that anyone who sits in on these Old Testament lectures will, by next May, have a greater understanding of the overall story and structure of the Hebrew Bible. (I confess that Old Testament tends to be my favorite year of our three-year Confirmation cycle: it’s swords and sandals, wars and wisdom, from here on out!)

A pastor is called to teach, preach, and visit the sick. Thank you to all of our Sunday School teachers and students, our youth and youth leaders, our Confirmands and their families, and to all who gather for worship, Bible Study, Adult Formation, and Pub Theology. In our life together, living and teaching the Christian faith, the Holy Spirit flows from generation to generation, bringing the Good News of Christ Jesus to peoples yet unborn. Come, let us reason together (Isaiah 1:18).